The present invention relates to apitherapy and, more particularly, to an apitherapy method and composition.
Currently, apitherapy is painful and inconvenient. A person must be stung on a regular basis by live bees. Travel is difficult or impossible because of the need for live bees. Bees are temperature sensitive. Opening a hive to collect bees for stinging purposes may harm or even kill the entire colony when the weather is quite cold. For this reason, apitherapy in colder climates is difficult or sometimes impossible.
The quality and quantity of venom injected by a bee during a sting varies with the age of the bee and the seasonal food availability. It is impossible to control how much venom is injected with each live bee sting. It is also impossible to control the quality of venom administered. Whatever amount and strength of venom the bee contains is what will be injected with the sting.
Apitherapy is best carried out when specific locations of the body are stung. This is difficult to control when using live bees.
Previous art includes applying bee venom with the use of a needle injection through the skin. The needle can be painful, may require professional assistance to administer, and may introduce the possibility of infections due to piercing of the skin by the needle. Live bees may also carry infectious materials that can cause infections when the bee's stinger pierces the skin.
Previous art also includes the use of topical ointments. Topical ointments are more typically used for surface cosmetic purposes of the venom and are not intended to carry materials through the skin. The topical ointment is also easily washed or wiped away as it lingers on the surface of the skin rather than being absorbed.
As can be seen, there is a need for an apitherapy method and composition that allows for apitherapy without pain, with reduced danger of infections, without dependence on favorable weather, without the resultant sting or needle marks, using a measured amount and quality of venom, and applied on the correct place on the body.